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U.S. states agreed to keep Exxon climate-deception probe secret: here's why

8/15/2016

As far back as the 1970s, Exxon conducted research that confirmed the occurrence of climate change—and that burning fossil fuels is a major contributor to it.

But the company—now ExxonMobil—largely kept that research under wraps, while funding campaigns that denied the science of climate change for decades.

This deception came to light last year, triggering multiple state-level investigations into the oil giant.

In early May, 15 states signed a pact that forms the basis of a joint investigation into whether ExxonMobil deliberately misled the public by contradicting research from its own scientists.

That agreement includes a provision that seeks to keep prosecutors' deliberations secret, but is also broadly written so that investigations may be expanded to other fossil-fuel companies, reports Reuters, which examined a copy of the document.

Tugboat engineers accused of polluting Lake Huron

7/19/2016

Absorbent diapers, a garden hose and a blue bucket were just some of the tools used in a scheme to dump oily bilge water from a Great Lakes tugboat into Lake Huron, causing a slick spotted from the air that was twice the length of a football field.

And now, two engineers from the tug Victory are accused of conspiring to discharge the oil-contaminated water into Lake Huron and other areas of the Great Lakes. They're also accused of releasing the dirty water at night to make it difficult to detect the resulting sheen.

According to a federal grand jury indictment handed up last month, Jeffrey Patrick, chief engineer aboard the Victory, and William Harrigan, first assistant engineer, allegedly released the oily water into Lake Huron from mid-May 2014 through the end of that June. The indictment does not say when or where other discharges occurred.

Deepwater spill pollution lingers on seabed

6/14/2016

Dirty oil residues from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico remained for years on the seabed, killing wildlife despite large-scale cleanup efforts, a study has revealed.

The study found that in January 2011, nine months after the spill, large patches of oil residue still covered the ocean floor around the spill site. The area had previously been declared clean after the surface of the surrounding waters had been found clean of oil.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on 20 April 2010 due to human error, causing around 5 million barrels of oil to spill out — with months going by until the leak was capped near the ocean floor.

Congress passes bill ratcheting up Mackinac pipeline safety rules

June 9, 2016

Congress has sent a bill to the president's desk that includes stronger safety measures for Great Lakes pipelines prompted by concerns about the threat of an oil spill from the Enbridge Line 5 gas and oil pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac.

The Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act unanimously cleared the U.S. Senate in March and the House of Representatives on June 9. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law this month.

The legislation, which reauthorizes the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) through 2019, includes provisions that designate the Great Lakes as an "Unusually Sensitive Area" with higher consequences should a spill occur. Pipelines in or near the lakes would be subject to greater safety standards.

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IMO publishes guide to spill response in ice

6/8/2016

At 183 pages, Guide to Oil Spill Response in Snow and Ice Conditions provides a unique insight into the issues and strategies surrounding the challenge of spill response in the Arctic. Commissioned by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Arctic Council working group for Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (EPPR) from a team comprising Owens Coastal Consultants and DF Dickins Associates, it will be supplemented by a companion volume to be issued shortly by IMO that includes the Antarctic and other subarctic areas affected by ice. It can be downloaded here.

The objective of the Arctic version of the IMO guide is to identify and describe those aspects of planning and operations that are directly associated with a response to an Arctic oil spill in ice and snow conditions. Response strategies to deal with Arctic oil spills in summer open-water conditions are not considered in the guide.

U.S. states agreed to keep Exxon climate-deception probe secret: here's why

Tugboat engineers accused of polluting Lake Huron

Deepwater spill pollution lingers on seabed

Congress passes bill ratcheting up Mackinac pipeline safety rules

IMO publishes guide to spill response in ice

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